12/07/10Insects and other foods the trout may be eating:1. Blue-winged Olives2 . Sculpin, baitfish and small crayfish (Imitate with streamers)3. Great Autumn Brown Caddisfly4. Midges

Who Won the "Perfect Fly" Fly Box?Skip Drinkard of Decatur Alabama, who was the first one to recognize the colors ofthe Perfect Fly site are also the colors of the number one football team in thenation, Auburn University, soon to be national champions

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Part Six - Adult StonefliesNew Great Smoky Mountains National Park Trout Food Series

When most anglers think about stoneflies in the Great Smoky Mountains NationalPark, they think of Little Yellow Stoneflies. The reason is very simple. They are oneof the most plentiful and important of all aquatic insects that exist in the park. Mosteveryone call them Yellow Sallies. In fact, they lump several species of Little Yellowstoneflies under the common name Yellow Sally. Although it was originally intendedas a common name for the Isoperia bilineata species, It's one common name usedfor many stoneflies that will work just fine because from a fly fishing standpoint,there's little, if any difference in the species that are called Yellow Sallies in theSmokies.

We have already mentioned that the nymphs of all stoneflies are all clingers with arare exception that doesn't even exist in the park. That makes them perfect for thefast, pocket water streams that make up the vast majority of the water in the park. Although some of the egg laying activity of some species can be prolific, weprobably only see just a small percentage of the adults of those stoneflies thathatch. This is true even though some of them hang around as adults for severaldays. Stoneflies live in the adult stage (as long as a few days) longer than the othermain three aquatic insects or the mayflies, caddisflies, and midges. One thing Iforgot to mention about the stoneflies is that some species live for two and some,even three years. Most of them have a one-year life cycle.

It's rare to see some species of the stoneflies that hatch in the Smokies becausethey only come out from their hiding places at nighttime. Some of the Giant Blackscan be spotted flying high in the air above the water just before dark but otherwise,you won't see them unless you spot them around a campfire or other type of light.The Giants hide all day long in the trees and bushes and only come out at night.Several other species of stoneflies do the same thing. All of them that do come outfrom their hiding places during the daytime are usually already out when it turnsdaylight, or they come out late in the afternoon, usually just prior to dark.

The Smokies have species that come from all nine families of stoneflies. The vastmajority hatch in the Spring and early Summer but some hatch during the Fall and afew during the Winter. Imitations of all of the adults will catch trout but the onecommon thing that simplifies the strategy is the fact the egg laying activity usuallyoccurs late in the day just prior to dark or after dark. There are a few exceptions.Early in the year, larger brown and black stoneflies that hatch when the water is stillcold or around 50 degrees, tend to deposit their eggs anywhere from mid afternoonuntil dark. They all either drop their eggs by landing on the water or knock them offdiving down and touching the surface of the water.

All of the stoneflies hatch on the bank or rocks that protrude out of the water. Theycrawl across the bottom of the stream to reach a rock or the bank. It's during thistime that the trout feast on them. Once out of the water, they still may be eaten bybirds and other predators. It usually takes just a few seconds or minutes for thestonefly to shed its nymphal shuck and dry its wings enough to fly away to thebushes or trees. Often you will find the shucks along the banks and on rocks in thewater during a hatch. This is always an indication that a hatch is underway becausethe ultra thin, very light weight shucks won't stay around long. When you findshucks, you know stoneflies are hatching. The size of the shuck, along withinformation from a good hatch chart, is also a very good indication of which speciesof stoneflies are hatching.

I should also mention that sometimes you will see the adults flying around above thewater and even dipping down low enough to almost touch the water when they arenot laying eggs. Again, stoneflies can live for a few days sometimes just becauseyou spot them flying above the water doesn't mean they are depositing eggs andbeing eaten by trout This can easily cause you to start fishing an imitation of theadult when it's too early and your odds would be better fishing another fly. I haven'tnoticed this very often in the Smokies but I have seen it occur over and over in theWestern states during the Golden and Salmonfly hatches. I have watched anglerscast their arms off all day and not catch anything, only to complain that the troutaren't eating the stoneflies. Often, when this happens they are really never actuallygetting on the water to where they could be eaten. There's always a delay from thetime the nymphs are crawling out of the water to hatch in large numbers and thetime the egg laying starts. It can be as long as a week to ten days after the hatchhas just about ended before the egg laying activity gets underway to anyappreciable extent.

This program deals with the special considerations thatmust be given to tailwaters in order for one to beconsistently successful fishing waters where both manand nature can affect the conditions. Tailwaters demandstrategies and techniques that are different from that offreestone streams and spring creeks. This programcovers a wide variety of streams across the U. S. fromEast to West, including scenes from over thirty blue - ribbon tailwaters